THE EFFECT OF BREATHWORK ON OUR AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM

Breathwork has a huge influence on our autonomic nervous system. This nervous system is an incredible and wild network of nerves that act in different vital functions to keep your body moving, responding, sensing, and more. The parasympathetic and sympathetic systems are like two polar opposites of each other, and you need both to function optimally.

About our Parasympathetic ‘Rest & Digest’ State

Activating our parasympathetic state is much needed in our occupied lives as this ‘Rest and Digest’ state is for many of us lacking in our busy days. We spend most hours of our days in our sympathetic, busy ‘Fight or Flight’ state. We’re working, running a household, picking up kids, getting groceries, working out, trying to make deadlines, and caring for our loved ones: all activities that need our sympathetic ‘fight or flight’ mode in full swing. 

The truth is that we need both states (sympathetic ‘active’ and parasympathetic ‘passive’) for a balanced life. However, due to our busy lives, modern men and women tend to live too much in the overactive, ‘stressed’ sympathetic state. 

Most of us need to spend more time in the parasympathetic state of our bodies to give space to the ongoing essential processes like resting, digesting our food, and eliminating this food properly. The PSNS is a “business as usual” system that keeps your body’s vital functions working as they should.

Activating your parasympathetic nervous (“Rest and Digest’) system has the following effects on your body:

• It contracts your pupils – telling your brain to rest and go inwards.
• It slows down your heart rate.
• It tightens the bronchi in the lungs. 
• It enacts digestion – the PSNS helps release saliva to promote digestion. It also enacts peristalsis, or the movement of the stomach and intestines, to digest food and release bile for the body to digest fats.
• Urination – it makes the bladder contract
• Defecation – it constricts the sphincters in the intestine and moves digested food material down the digestive tract so a person can have a bowel movement
• Source: Your Parasympathetic Nervous System Explained, Healthline

Difficulties with the processes described above could indicate a dysfunction in your parasympathetic nervous system. Always consult a doctor when in doubt. Slow Resonance Breathing could help you tap into your parasympathetic state more. Find Resonance Breathing practices in our free Spinoza App (iOS, Android) in the Breathwork section.

On the other hand, the sympathetic nervous system, also known as the ‘Fight or Flight’ system, has these effects:

• Dilates pupils
• It keeps you from salivating
• It speeds up the heart
• Widens the bronchi
• Inhibits digestion
• It keeps the bladder from contracting

This state of our nervous system is designed to keep us safe in danger. In stressful situations, your sympathetic nervous system activates to speed up your heart rate and deliver more blood to areas of your body that need more oxygen or other responses to help you escape danger. It also limits or pauses other ongoing processes in your body, like digestion, to save energy to fight or flight. 

We need this sympathetic nervous system. Otherwise, we would be unable to keep ourselves alive and safe. And, exercising, putting some strain on the body, is generally healthy. However, as stated before, high burn-out rates in modern society may indicate that we spend too much time throughout the day in our Fight Flight response, affecting our bodies, minds, and souls without us even noticing it. 

How do you use the breath to influence your state of being?

It’s still relatively unknown how much effect the breath has on our nervous system, and with that, it can ultimately influence how we live our days and lives. You can see your breath as your body’s brake. The breath functions like a car brake to help you speed up or slow down processes in your system. It has a direct effect on your autonomic nervous system. You have the capacity to activate the sympathetic ‘Fight or Flight’ system or the parasympathetic ‘Rest and Digest’ system. 

Also, each time you inhale, you activate your sympathetic nervous system, and when you exhale, you activate the parasympathetic nervous system — so, do you need to calm down? Focus on making your exhalations longer (for example, 4 seconds in, 6 seconds out). Breathing like this will have an instant effect. 

Slow Resonance Breathing and the Effect on our Autonomic Nervous System

You can see your breath as your body’s brake. The breath functions like a car brake to help you speed up or slow down processes in your system. It has a direct effect on your autonomic nervous system. You are having the capacity to activate the sympathetic ‘Fight or Flight’ system or the parasympathetic ‘Rest and Digest’ system.

Your Parasympathetic Nervous System: Rest & Digest

The reason that you feel calm and relaxed is that slowing down your breath activates your parasympathetic nervous system, also known as the ‘Rest and Digest’ system. Your parasympathetic nervous system is a network of nerves that relaxes your body after periods of stress or danger. It also helps run life-sustaining processes, like digestion, when you feel safe and relaxed [Parasympathetic Nervous System (PSNS), Cleaveland Clinic].